Welcome to Washington-Henry Elementary School (W-HES), located in Mechanicsville, Virginia. We serve students in kindergarten through the fifth grade. W-HES works with students and their families in a partnership. We begin each day with a morning meeting wherein students gather in a circle for 20 to 30 minutes and interact with one another through greetings, sharing, group activities, and morning messages. We find this builds a strong sense of community and sets children up for success socially and academically.
Additionally, we implement math workshop in grades k–5. Math workshop involves students in small group instruction and differentiated math tasks that are appropriate for their level of learning. The focus is on problem solving and student talk about math methods. Students have choices in their activities and have time for practicing big ideas.
W-HES has a strong literacy presence and engages in literacy programs all year long with programs such as Literacy Week, One School One Book, and other programs.
Washington-Henry Elementary School has a long history dating back to 1778 when citizens from Hanover founded Washington-Henry Academy, a private boarding school for boys. Not quite 100 years later, girls could enroll in the school for the first time. In the early 1900's, Washington-Henry became a public school housing grades one through 11. In 1938, the school was built on its present site as a high school. Later, in the 1950's, an addition accommodated the growing enrollment until 1958 when Lee Davis High School (renamed Mechanicsville High School in 2020) opened and Washington-Henry became an elementary school for grades one through seven.
During the 1970–1971 school year, kindergarten students entered Washington-Henry for the first time. When Hanover County progressed to the middle school concept during the 1990–1991 school year, Washington-Henry became a kindergarten through fifth grade school and has remained that way to the present time.